Amazing Grace

John 8:1-11
Gary Wassermann | Sunday, June 26, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Gary Wassermann

God gave Pastor Mathew a message on “Amazing Grace,” and Pastor Mathew sent me to preach it. So now I preach this message to you this morning.  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.”  Grace means no credit to you, no relation to who you are or to what you have done. And that grace is found in Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ saves sinners by sheer, amazing grace.

Our passage this morning is found in John 8:1–11, and we understand that the Bible is the word of God, so that whatever is in the Bible is solid ground that we can stand on for faith and practice.  But when we come to this morning’s text, the New International Version and most translations note that it does not appear in the earliest manuscripts.  So it is natural that we should ask the question as to whether we can rely on this text.

This section is, indeed, not found in the best and oldest manuscripts.  It is found, first of all, in Codex Bezae, of the fifth or sixth century.   There are two early manuscripts that leave a space for this section, but it is blank.  Some manuscripts put this section in different places in the book of John.  Another manuscript puts this section right after Luke 21:38.

In spite of all that, we can make a good case for the authenticity of this section, because it is found in the ancient document called the Apostolic Constitutions of the fourth century.  Additionally, there was a man who died sometime after about 100 AD named Papias; in his writings, he makes reference to such a sinful woman who was brought before Jesus Christ.  Also, when you read the context around this passage—when you read John 7:52 and then you read John 8:12—it does not flow quite right.  Something belonged in this space.  So I follow my pastor and others before him in the view that this section should be there in view of John’s writings previously, where he speaks about an incident and then there is a discourse in relation to that incident.  And so also it would be appropriate to have this particular incident that the discourse starting in verse 12 relates to.

There is also a plausible explanation as to why this section was not found in certain manuscripts.  When the church had to face the serious immorality of the pagan world, this section could have confused pagans because it seems that Jesus is condoning fornication.  We know that the Gentile world was full of fornication, and the church was on a campaign to clean that up.  So if this section was included, that would have, in their view, not served the purpose of promoting holiness.  I can sympathize with that concern.  I believe Bill Clinton invoked this passage to say, “Jesus does not have any problem with what I did.  If you do, that means you are the bad guy.”  Now, that is a perversion of that text. But if you get that happening enough times, it  may be difficult to keep it read and preached in the church.

But the most important reason to consider this as genuine, whether it was written by John or someone else, is that it is in keeping with the character of Jesus Christ. So we treat this as the very inspired word of God.

I have two major points this morning: “Sin” (vv. 1–10) and “Amazing Grace” (v. 11).

Sin

First, I want to speak about sin because if sin is nothing, then grace is nothing.  So we must understand sin.  In particular, I want to look at the sin of the accusers in this passage.  John 7 ends with the Pharisees being very frustrated.  They had sent out the temple guards to arrest Jesus, whom they hated, but the temple guards came back empty-handed.  The Pharisees demanded of them why they did not bring him in, and they said, “No one ever spoke the way this man did.”  So the Pharisees had to plot and come up with another plan.  No doubt that was what was on their minds as they went, each to his own home, that night.  Their goal was to kill Jesus, and the only question was how to pull it off.  And if the problem was that no one ever spoke the way this man did, they would have to catch him in a trap, in his words.

We know from elsewhere in the Scriptures that Christ’s enemies had tried to trap him with all sorts of seemingly unanswerable questions.  The Pharisees and the Herodians came to him with flattery and asked whether they should pay taxes to Caesar.  If he said, “No,” the Romans would arrest him as an enemy of the state and convict him and crucify him.  If he said, “Yes,” the Jews would reject him as a traitor.  But Jesus had wisdom greater than that of Solomon.  He knew how to handle this by pointing out to them that they had already accepted Roman rule by using Roman money, so that to pay taxes was a part of the daily life they already lived.

Then the Sadducees tried to trap him with another question.  What marriage would a person who has had successive marriages in life have at the resurrection?  Of course, they were trying to make Jesus look like a fool, and the teaching about the resurrection and eternity and God and angels look foolish.  But Jesus had the wisdom to expose them as fools.  “You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God,” he told them.  The Scriptures they claimed to believe taught the resurrection, and God knows how to run the universe.  God knows how to arrange heaven so that everything works out just right.

But in this case the trap that the Pharisees came up with was a different and probably harder trap because it involved a real, physical, flesh-and-blood person.  They started that night by targeting a woman, and they found a man who would do the job.  They arranged for witnesses, because the law required that there be at least two witnesses in order to put someone to death.  See how despicable these people are!

Then, at an opportune time, they dragged the woman outside to the temple courts in public and  interrupted the teaching of Jesus.  Of course, they let the man escape.  They treated this woman with utter contempt.  When Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus learned that Mary was pregnant and assumed she must have committed adultery, he planned to divorce her quietly because he was a righteous man.  But these people treated this woman like trash, and all with the goal of murdering Jesus.

Now, here are the horns of this dilemma that they thought they had caught Jesus on.  The Old Testament law, which was still in full effect at that time, made adultery a capital offense.  Leviticus 20:10, for example, says, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.”  Right there they had a problem, because they only brought the woman, and they said that the law of Moses commanded that this woman be put to death.  No, the law commanded that both be put to death.  But they had no interest in righteousness.  Theirs was a devious plan to put Jesus to death.  Deuteronomy 22:22 repeats the death penalty for those who commit adultery.

And when they came to Jesus, he  was teaching  in the temple courts  and they confronted  him, saying, “Teacher!  Teacher!  You who teach the law, what are you going to say?”  So Jesus cannot just say, “Don’t worry about what the law says.  It’s okay.  Let her go.”  No, this is the law of God!  And Jesus himself had said that he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.  It was written about him in the scroll—he had come to do God’s will.  And there was no problem with the law.  The law itself is holy, righteous, and good.

On the other hand, Jesus preached a kingdom of compassion and mercy.  He was the one who would not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick.  He had proclaimed, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  The burden he spoke about there is the burden of sin and guilt.  He was calling sinners to come to him and to receive relief from their sin, forgiveness of all sins, and rest and satisfaction for their souls.

Jesus had read from the prophecy of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).  Jesus said about his own mission in John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

So here is the dilemma.  Jesus must comply with the God’s law, but at the same time, Jesus must show mercy and compassion to this woman who was caught in the very act of violating that law.  This is no theoretical question.  The woman was standing right there.  If Jesus had said, “We have to be nice; we have to let her go,” these Pharisees would nail him as a false prophet.  There was a penalty for false prophets; that penalty was death.  But if he had rejected and condemned the woman, which would have been completely out of character for him to do, he would have shown himself to be a fraud.  He had always said that he shows mercy to sinners, but now, when an actual sinner with real sin comes to him and he sends her to her death, that would have been the end of him.

The truth is that he must do both.  He must fulfill the law, and he must show mercy to the woman.  Ultimately, the only way he could do that was through his own death on the cross, when he took upon himself the judgment that this woman deserved, so that he might be both just and the justifier of those who have faith in him.

But that death on the cross was to come later. The woman was here now.  The accusers were here now. The public was watching now.  So he bent down and started writing on the ground.  Probably he was writing their sins, exposing the motives of their hearts.  Jesus knew them completely.  Jesus knows everyone completely.  John 2:24–25 says, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.”

Proverbs 16:2 says, “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”  If we were left to judge ourselves, who would be condemned?  And as to motives, that is the one area where we excuse ourselves.  How consistently is it the case that we say, “I meant well.  Yes, it ended badly, and now I feel bad for how it has worked out. I feel bad for the harm it has caused.  But I didn’t mean any harm.  Yes, perhaps if I had thought harder about it, I could have seen that this was not a good idea.  But I did not mean any trouble.”  Not in the Lord’s sight.

Motives are weighed by the Lord, and he sees the evil in our intentions.  King Saul gladly declared that he was serving God acceptably, but God saw in his intentions pride, covetousness, and disobedient rejection of God.  The chief priests made sure that they did not enter Pilate’s palace when they were pushing for Jesus’ crucifixion. You see, they were clean; they could eat the Passover.  “No sin here! We are righteous.”  And yet, look at the motives of their hearts. They are putting to death the author  of life, the very God whom they claimed to serve.

The essence of sin is enmity against God, and that comes from the heart.  It is the motive.  We may not be responsible for being sick, we may not be responsible for being weak, or at least not shamefully so, but we are guilty of sin.  We are blameworthy when it comes to sin.  So Jesus wrote on the ground, and as he did so, he laid bare the motives of their hearts—the sin, the evil, the rebellion, the malice.

In the book of Daniel, chapter 5 tells about a great banquet held by the playboy king Belshazzar.  But just as he and his guests were in high spirits, “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall” (Dan. 5:5).  And what happened to the king?  “His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way” (Dan. 5:6).  That is what happens when God begins to write a few words against you.  The message that God wrote was, “God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.  You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting.  Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”  Along with truth, along with conviction, comes judgment.  You are condemned.

Now, the Pharisees had been questioning Jesus:  “Do you condemn her?”  But the law required that the witnesses be the first to cast the first stone.  They were ready to condemn her.  They had been ready to condemn Jesus.  But Jesus convicted them of their guilt, probably even in their participation in this incident—their murderous intent, their deceit, their participation in adultery.  So Jesus said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And one by one they all left.  You see, no one is without sin, except Jesus alone.  So let us summarize what we see here about sin.

1. All are sinners. Across all of history, across all the world, all are sinners.  No one can stand before God and say, “I am innocent.”  Romans 3:9–12 says, “What shall we conclude then?  Are we any better?  Not at all!  We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.  As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’” (italics added).  Everyone here, everyone in this room, is a sinner, and it is time that each one of us say, “I am the sinner.”
2. Sinners sin from the heart. If only our problem were just that we were poor, we would be people to be pitied, but not to be blamed.  If we were simply lost, we could be pitied.  But the intentions of our heart are corrupt, so that every faculty of our being is corrupt.  Romans 3:13–18 says, “‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’  ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’  ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’  ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.’  ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”
3. God sees our sin. Jesus knew the sin of this woman.  He said she had been living a life of sin.  He also knew the sin of the accusers.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.  These accusers had the reputation of righteousness.  They had social power.  They had connections.  They had nice clothes.  It didn’t mean anything.  Your appearance doesn’t mean anything.  Your money doesn’t mean anything.  First Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  And what does he see in the heart but sin?
4. We stand condemned. It is not just this woman, but each one of us has committed sin worthy of death.  By the Old Testament law, murder was a capital crime.  Adultery was a capital crime.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus dealt with these sins and showed that the intentions and imaginations of the heart are enough to make us guilty of murder and of adultery.  But it is not just these sins.  All sins are against the living, transcendent God and, therefore, all sin deserves death.  As David said, “Against you, you only, have I sinned.”  So Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death,” meaning eternal death, “but the gift of God is eternal life.”
5. We must be afraid. The woman was afraid.  At any moment, the rocks would begin to hit her, and they would continue pelting her until she was dead.  As Jesus wrote on the ground, the accusers became afraid.  They had encountered righteous omniscience.  They had  come before a judge who knew them. And so they left as quietly as they could.  Everyone is afraid to stand before God, the God who created you and whom you sinned against in thought, word, and deed.

Be careful that you do not follow the example of the Pharisees.  They did not expect to be convicted of their sin.  They thought they were in the judge’s seat that day.  They thought they had the upper hand.  But Jesus showed that they were guilty too, and he knew it.  They were surprised by their own sin.  This happens to many people.  You think that everything is all right, but then someone comes and  speaks to you and convicts you of your sin.  Or perhaps you come to church and hear the word preached, and it strikes you, and it uncovers and it lays bare the sin that is in your heart so that you are convicted of  your sin.

Now, when that happened to the Pharisees, they slipped away.  But what should they have done?  They should have stepped forward and joined the woman in front of Jesus.  Walking away does not do you any good.  Jesus exposed their sin, but he was not out to destroy them.  He would have shown mercy and compassion to them too, if they had come to him for it.  Jesus is the oasis.  He said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”  They should have drunk of him.  They should have agreed with Jesus’ judgment.  They should have repented of their sin, and said, “Jesus, we were wrong—wrong, wrong, wrong—wrong about everything.  Jesus, you are God.  Please have mercy on us.  Forgive our many sins and forgive also the sin of this woman, too.”

Friends, Christ is present in the church.  It is a terrible thing to come to church and be convicted of sin, but then to leave without taking advantage of the great salvation that is offered in Christ Jesus.  This is the day of salvation.  This is the day of grace.

Amazing Grace

Thank God that there is hope for condemned sinners.  Eventually, only Jesus and this woman remained.  The woman was there because she was caught in sin.  Jesus was there because he was sinless.

Jesus alone was qualified to stand there.  He is the Righteous One.  In John 8:46, he said, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”  This was not a statement of the people’s ignorance.  This was a statement of his innocence.  At Jesus’ baptism, God the Father spoke from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).  Therefore, it was on that day not just Jesus and the woman, but God the Father there. And Jesus was able to stand in the presence of God the Father as the sinless and righteous one, qualified to remain.  So Jesus said in John 5:22, “The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.”

Jesus alone is qualified to condemn, and yet hear these words that came from his mouth: “Neither do I condemn you.”  He clears the guilty sinner.  This is amazing grace!

1. “No Condemnation”

“No condemnation” is the first aspect of that amazing grace.  How can it be that Jesus would release the sinner who deserves condemnation?  The answer is that she sinned, and he died.  This is not just for this woman.  I sinned, and he died.  You sinned, and he died.  That is what each of us should be able to say.  Can you say that?  I sinned, and he died for me and for my sins.

To whom did Jesus say this?  Yes, it was to a guilty sinner, but it was to the guilty sinner who was there, who was at his feet.  (GMW)  He did not say this to those who had left.  Grace is found in Jesus Christ.  If you come to Christ as a sinner, you will be shown grace.  Romans 8:1–2 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” No condemnation!

How can it be that there can be no condemnation for a sinner who is guilty and worthy of  condemnation?  That is not just.  It is the righteous who should be cleared.  It is the righteous who should have no condemnation.  That is certainly true, but God takes care of that.  In the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.  You have no righteousness of your own, but he gives you his righteousness.  First Corinthians 1:30–31 says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”  We are in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is our righteousness.  Therefore, no condemnation.

“No condemnation” also means fear is gone.  We will sing later in this service, “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”  A Christian fears God, but, at the same time, he does not fear anything else.  He does not walk around burdened with fear.  He is bold and confident, come what may, because God is with him.  That condemnation is gone, and  so God is with him wherever he goes. So many times throughout the Scriptures God says, “Fear not!”

2. Few Are Chosen

We can see a picture of that in this incident.  There were many sinful accusers; there was one adulterous woman whose sins were forgiven.  Only one was not condemned.  Why didn’t she slip away too?  Why had she ended up at Jesus feet?  Why did she stay?  Ultimately, it was because God had chosen her as an object of mercy.  Ephesians 2:8 once again says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  No one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him.  Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  She was one of his sheep.  Where could she go away from the shepherd?

Why did God choose only a few?  I don’t know, but it shows in all the greater relief what a precious act of amazing grace it is to be one of those who has been chosen.  God said in Jeremiah 3:14, “I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.”  Look at this city, the city of Davis, a city to which a man sent by God has come and preached the gospel.  Relative to the number of people who live in this place, few believe in Christ.  It says many here, and yet few in comparison.  If you have trusted in Christ, you are richly and eternally blessed.

3. Jesus Loves Sinners

This “no condemnation” is not issued through the mail by a distant judge.  See how Jesus treats sinners.  He knows the whole truth about sinners.  He knew this woman had committed adultery.  But he knew much more than that.  He knew her whole life had been a life of sin.  He said, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  And he knows the whole truth about every other sinner.  He knows the whole truth about us, and that is good news because that means there is not some new evidence he is going to uncover later on that will cause him to reconsider our case and consider that maybe we should be condemned. He knows the whole truth and, in spite of that, no condemnation.

Beyond that, he shows compassion.  The Pharisees dragged this woman out, shamed her, and condemned her, all for the sake of getting at Jesus, who they hated so much.  They never spoke to her.  They only pointed at her and spoke about her.  Jesus spoke to her.  I’m sure he looked her in the eyes.  God is compassionate.  He declared his name to Moses in Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

4. Jesus Sets Us Free

Jesus does not merely give the promise of heaven and then leave us in sin and misery until then, even though that would be immeasurable grace.  He sets us free from the reign and misery of sin.  After he said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you,” he said, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  Now, it was a command to be obeyed, to be sure, but Jesus’ words carried the power to do it.  He was releasing  her from her life of sin.  When he spoke to the dead man Lazarus, “Come out,” Lazarus came out.  “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life [sets us] free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).

This liberation is the outworking of God’s work of regeneration.  Ezekiel 36:24–27 says,

For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

The unbeliever is graceless.  He has no power to leave his life of sin.  He turns from Christ and tries to reform himself.  He tries to justify himself and find peace himself, but it will never work.  Freedom is only found in Jesus Christ.  “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

The sinner apart from Christ produces his own kind of fruit.  Galatians 5:19–21 says, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:   sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  That is the life of sin.  But when you are freed from that through Christ, you produce the opposite fruit:  “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).

5. You Must Live a New Life

“Go and leave your life of sin” was a powerful word that included the power to do it, but that does not mean that it comes without effort.  Grace is not given so that you can go on sinning.   It is not cheap grace.  That is a perversion of grace.  Grace is spoken of in Titus 2:  “The grace of God . . . teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11–12).  If you have known the conviction of sin before the holy God, you understand that sin is not nothing.  Grace is a great treasure to be valued by living a holy life.

Thank God for the sequence here.  Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”  Then he said, “Go and leave your life of sin.”  He did not say, “First, leave your life of sin, and when you have shown that you can control yourself and made yourself acceptable, then I will see about not condemning you.”  Jesus forgives the guilty and the sinful.  As Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

6. Jesus Gives Eternal Life

Again, it is pictured in this incident.  A few moments ago, this woman’s life was as good as done, but now she is given life.  Her death sentence is gone.  Jesus spoke to her about her life ahead.  The accusers intended to kill this woman, but they brought her to the one who could give life instead.  She lived.  She was forgiven.   But they themselves went away without forgiveness or eternal life.  This woman’s new life is a picture of the eternal life that is in Jesus Christ.  “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).  A blessed life here that came to an end at death would still be grace to sinners, but the gift of God extends into eternity.  Matthew 25:46 says, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  What is the measure of this grace!

Conclusion

Now, it is not my intention this morning just to speak nice words.  I do not want you to come here this morning and listen like people listening to entertainment.  Some here have never trusted in Christ.  Perhaps this message is new to you.  That is okay.  You do not have wait until you become familiar with the people here and you fit in to the social circles here.  You can receive this amazing grace today.

But I know there are also some here who come regularly, week after week, and you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ.  You don’t feel out of place here.  You could go and come back next week and the week after that without changing.  But don’t do that.  We are looking at Jesus Christ, the one who is ready to say, “I do not condemn you.”  What you must do is this:  Say, “I am the sinner. I am this woman, or I am this man.  I committed sin worthy of death.  I stand before Jesus, the judge of the whole world.  I am guilty, so I must be killed.  But I won’t go away from Jesus.  Lord Jesus, have mercy on me as you did on this woman.”  And he will.  He will.  His grace has not worn thin.  You can today be free from condemnation and accepted in Christ Jesus.  Come to him with your armload of sin and guilt.  You can have the most important matter settled, so that you can say, “Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?”  I urge you to do it today.  There are elders and ministers here whom you can pray with.  Don’t go away like the Pharisees did.

As for you who have been shown mercy, look again at the amazing grace of God.  “Who shall bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.”  Friends, there is nothing to fear.  Do you understand this amazing grace?  See what gulf God’s grace has spanned to bring you from death to life.  See what a privilege it is to be included in the number of those he called.  Few children of the devil are chosen to be children of God doing the will of God.  So we sing, “Amazing grace!”  Amen.